Syntax Construction Kit arrived!

[Mornche Geddick]

Cool! Now, can we buy it *without* going through Amazon?

[mèþru]

bump because I dislike Bezos so much

[Frislander]

The text on the webpage is a little broken on the punctuation front.

[Kuchigakatai]

The text on the webpage is a little broken on the punctuation front.

If you are talking about his use of space near m-dashes, that's how Zompist likes to use them actually. You can find such usage of space as far back as the old version of the online LCK.

[zompist]

If I make a hardcover version, that will be non-Amazon. But that depends on sales.

I tried using Barnes & Noble, but a) they don't support Unicode, and b) sales were dismal.

[zompist]

Also, here's the description page:

http://www.zompist.com/syntax.html

[Salmoneus]

The text on the webpage is a little broken on the punctuation front.

If you are talking about his use of space near m-dashes, that's how Zompist likes to use them actually. You can find such usage of space as far back as the old version of the online LCK.

That's how everyone uses em-dashes, unless they're a British literary publisher writing in 1920, or unless they wish they were.

I suspect Frislander means the way that every apostrophe has been replaced with ’...

[zompist]

I don't know what dinosaur browsers you people are using... but I'm guessing you need a meta tag to read Unicode, which should be there now.

[KathTheDragon]

I'm using the latest Firefox, and it was happening for me... Fortunately it's working correctly now.

[Ketsuban]

Also, here's the description page:

http://www.zompist.com/syntax.html

The last couple of URLs all point to your syntax toys post rather than the book review posts.

[Vardelm]

Looking forward to getting the ebook version. One of my "primordial languages" will be largely analytic, and I think understanding syntax trees, etc. will be a big help.

[Zaarin]

The text on the webpage is a little broken on the punctuation front.

If you are talking about his use of space near m-dashes, that's how Zompist likes to use them actually. You can find such usage of space as far back as the old version of the online LCK.

That's how everyone uses em-dashes, unless they're a British literary publisher writing in 1920, or unless they wish they were.

I suspect Frislander means the way that every apostrophe has been replaced with ’...

You're thinking of en-dashes. En-dashes typically use a space, em-dashes typically do not.

[Salmoneus]

If you are talking about his use of space near m-dashes, that's how Zompist likes to use them actually. You can find such usage of space as far back as the old version of the online LCK.

That's how everyone uses em-dashes, unless they're a British literary publisher writing in 1920, or unless they wish they were.

I suspect Frislander means the way that every apostrophe has been replaced with ’...

You're thinking of en-dashes. En-dashes typically use a space, em-dashes typically do not.

...no, I'm thinking of em-dashes. Em-dashes typically use a space, just like en-dashes. This is the general convention in the UK, outside of the OUP (hence the 'British literary publisher in 1920' remark), and in US journalism (eg the AP and NYT style guides). Although I'd admittedly forgotten that apparently the CMS weirdly prefers them without the spaces.

Anyway, maybe I was wrong to say "everyone". But the point remains that this is a general usage approved by style guides around the world, and not at all in need of addressing.

[mèþru]

No spaces are pretty common, especially when going for an old timey feel.

[Zaarin]

I've never seen em-dashes with spaces, but I also don't read a lot of periodicals, whether American or UK. In fiction publications, I've always seen either em-dashes sans spaces or en-dashes with them. (I'm not contending that your points are invalid, but I've never seen it in my personal experience. And I'm definitely one of those authors who abuses the poor em-dash out of all countenance. )

[mèþru]

I'm used to no spaces because of all the Asimov I read

[zompist]

The last couple of URLs all point to your syntax toys post rather than the book review posts.

Oops! Thanks, should be fixed.

[Kuchigakatai]

The text on the webpage is a little broken on the punctuation front.

If you are talking about his use of space near m-dashes, that's how Zompist likes to use them actually. You can find such usage of space as far back as the old version of the online LCK.

That's how everyone uses em-dashes, unless they're a British literary publisher writing in 1920, or unless they wish they were.

It's true that I don't read any fiction, but I don't think I have ever encountered Zompist's use of space around m-dashes in all the reading I do of works in linguistics and software programming.

...no, I'm thinking of em-dashes. Em-dashes typically use a space, just like en-dashes. This is the general convention in the UK, outside of the OUP (hence the 'British literary publisher in 1920' remark), and in US journalism (eg the AP and NYT style guides). Although I'd admittedly forgotten that apparently the CMS weirdly prefers them without the spaces.

This is wrong. The AP and NYT style guides recommend using spaces both before and after the m-dash. Zompist uses spaces only after the m-dash, using no space before. Like this: abc— def— ghi. This is why I call it weird / very idiosyncratic.